Date:         Sat, 20 Apr 1996 00:21:54 EDT
From: "slowing down..." <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      EXERCISE: Out Of Order
Comments: To: "word demons..." <writers@mitvma.mit.edu>

[yipes, it's late, I'm late, all things are late...]

An exercise aimed at revision and editing.  So, please start with story,
poem, or other effort in hand (screen, foot, paw, whatever, just have
the piece already produced).

1.  Take the last act/scene/section.  Read carefully and slowly.

2.  Take the beginning act/scene/section.  Read carefully and slowly.

3.  Stop.  Are there pieces of the ending that could be foreshadowed
usefully in the beginning?  Are there questions, problems, etc. posed in
the beginning that are not answered in the ending?  Rework the two
pieces paying particular attention to what shows up when they are
juxtaposed like this.

4.  Now take the intermediate acts/scenes/sections.  Read carefully and
slowly, alternating later parts and earlier parts, making sure the whole
meshes and resonates.

5.  (Extra credit)  Take every main character.  Use a colored pen or
other highlighting tool and mark every mention of one character.  Now
read just the parts concerned with this character, especially noting the
dialogue that this character speaks.  Make sure they have a way of
speaking that suits them.  Repeat for each main character.  Make sure
each one is personally consistent and notably different from the other
characters.

That's about all for today.  Slice and dice, toss and review, and see if
your editing doesn't improve.

One sentence starters?

    In the end, he knew better.  But now, he knew what he wanted and
took it.

(and they're off, whacking those words in line, pounding in the periods
and spearing attention on exclamation points, hooking the reading
eyeballs with little question marks, a sprinkle of colons, and the
common grist of commas...:-)

tink